Saffas in the City

Over the weekend, I had the privilege of going to watch the World Rugby Sevens tournament at Twickenham Stadium. I very proudly wore my Springbok jersey, in all its glory, having decided beforehand that I would be supporting both WP and the Blue Bulls.

I don’t know whether any of you have noticed this when you’re abroad somewhere, but as soon as one South African realises that there’s another South African in the immediate vicinity, both of them pretend not to see the other, and stare in completely opposite directions, hoping to goodness that the other person walks past them as quickly as possible.

It was rather disappointing to encounter this behaviour over the weekend at a sporting event, when really we were there to support the same teams, by the looks of the outfits we all wore. So I made a concerted effort to acknowledge other “locals”, and was pleasantly surprised to see how relieved many were that someone else had broken the ice.

It’s really the most ridiculous thing… being unable (afraid?) to communicate with people who have more in common with us than the people we have chosen to newly befriend.

Anyway, the rugby was great, and I was fortunate enough to meet some of the players too. They have done us proud, and it felt great to go and support them. I’ll definitely be going back to watch next year – maybe I can make some more South African friends.